New York may soon offer free eye exams

Brooklyn City Councilman suffering from rare eye disease is pushing for Mayor Adams to allocate $1,4 million from this year's budget for a program to provide free optometry services to low-income New Yorkers, reports Daily News.

City Councilman Justin Brennan almost completely lost sight in his left eye due to keratoconus. After he was diagnosed in 2016, he realized that eye exams are often overlooked in conversations about public health.

“It became very personal for me. Solving this problem reminded me of how lucky I was to have good health insurance. And even more about how crazy it is that basic eye care is considered a luxury,” Democrat Brennan said in an interview last week. “No one should be too poor to see.”

As part of a $1,4 million pilot program, the Department of Health will launch a mobile bus that will travel to five districts. Provide free eye exams and prescribe eyeglasses to any New Yorker whose income does not exceed 250% of the federal poverty level. An individual earning less than $33 or a family of four earning less than $975 will be eligible. Children whose parents fall within the eligible income categories will also be able to benefit from free services.

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The council member hopes that the one-year ophthalmology bus pilot project will be successful. Then the Adams administration will make it a permanent item in the municipal budget. Adams' representative Jonah Allon has not committed to funding the optometry program, but said: "We will evaluate the Board's proposals as part of the budget process."

The keratoconus that Brannan fights results in thinning and loss of structure in the protective tissue of the cornea. This often leads to loss of vision and even complete blindness. According to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, about one in every 2000 people is diagnosed with this disease.

After years of waiting, Brennan said he was scheduled to have a corneal transplant on April 15th. According to him, if there are no complications, the operation should completely restore vision in his left eye. “I am very grateful to the people who are organ donors,” he said.

This isn't the first time Brennan has offered free optometry services to working-class New Yorkers. Brennan introduced a bill with a similar program in October 2019. Twenty-one of his fellow members of the Council, including the current Speaker, Adrienne Adams, signed as sponsors of the bill. This measure was never put to a vote due to the COVID-21 pandemic.

Brennan expressed his confidence that this time his proposal has a better chance. “The fact that we can include this in the budget will hopefully speed up the process,” he said. Adams and the Council are expected to continue budget negotiations through the spring; the legislature must adopt a final spending plan before the start of the next fiscal year on July 1.